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{{short description|Irish engineer}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2017}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2017}}
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|name = Alice Perry
|name = Alice Perry
|image = Alice Perry 1885-1969.jpg
|image = Alice Perry 1885-1969.jpg
|image_size = 150
|image_size =
|caption =
|caption =
|nationality = Irish
|nationality = Irish
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|birth_place = Wellpark House, [[Galway]], Ireland
|birth_place = Wellpark House, [[Galway]], Ireland
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1969|04|21|1885|10|24}}
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1969|04|21|1885|10|24}}
|death_place =
|death_place = Los Angeles
|education = [[Royal University of Ireland|Royal University of Ireland, Galway]]
|education = [[Royal University of Ireland|Royal University of Ireland, Galway]]
|spouse = John Shaw
|spouse = John Shaw
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}}
}}


'''Alice Jacqueline Perry''' (24 October 1885 – 21 April 1969) was a poet and the first woman in Ireland to graduate with a degree in engineering.<ref name="Engineers Ireland">{{cite web|last1=Engineers Ireland|title=Alice Perry (1885–1969)|url=http://www.realizedvision.com/ap.php|website=Engineers Ireland: Realised Vision|publisher=Engineers Ireland|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref>
'''Alice Jacqueline Perry''' (24 October 1885 – 21 April 1969) was one of the first women in Europe to graduate with a degree in engineering.<ref name="Engineers Ireland">{{cite web|last1=Engineers Ireland|title=Alice Perry (1885–1969)|url=http://www.realizedvision.com/ap.php|website=Engineers Ireland: Realised Vision|publisher=Engineers Ireland|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="Engineers Journal 2017">{{cite web | title=the Galway woman who was Europe's first engineering graduate | website=Engineers Journal | date=2017-06-20 | url=http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2017/06/20/alice-perry-first-female-engineer/ | access-date=2019-08-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831223430/http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2017/06/20/alice-perry-first-female-engineer/ | archive-date=31 August 2019 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Coleman>{{cite book|last1=Coleman|first1=Marie|editor1-last=McGuire|editor1-first=James|editor2-last=Quinn|editor2-first=James|title=Dictionary of Irish Biography|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|chapter=Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline}}</ref>


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Born in [[Wellpark]], [[Galway]] in 1885, Alice was one of five daughters of James and Martha Perry (née Park).<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive">{{cite web|last1=Irish Architectural Archive|title=PERRY, ALICE JACQUELINE|url=http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4332/PERRY-ALICEJACQUELINE|website=Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940|publisher=Irish Architectural Archive|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref> Her father was the County Surveyor in Galway West and co-founded the Galway Electric Light Company.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Irish Architectural Archive|title=PERRY, JAMES|url=http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4331/PERRY-JAMES|website=Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940|publisher=Irish Architectural Archive|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref> Her uncle, [[John Perry (engineer)|John Perry]], was a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] and invented the navigational gyroscope.<ref name="O'Connell" />
Born in [[Wellpark]], [[Galway]] in 1885, Alice was one of five daughters and a son of Martha Park and [[James Perry (engineer)|James Perry]].<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive">{{cite web|last1=Irish Architectural Archive|title=PERRY, ALICE JACQUELINE|url=http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4332/PERRY-ALICEJACQUELINE|website=Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940|publisher=Irish Architectural Archive|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref> Her father<ref>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Perry_(1845-1906) James Perry (1845-1906)] Grace's Guide to British Industrial History</ref> was the [[county surveyor]] in Galway West and co-founded the Galway Electric Light Company.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Irish Architectural Archive|title=PERRY, JAMES|url=http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4331/PERRY-JAMES|website=Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940|publisher=Irish Architectural Archive|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref> Her uncle, [[John Perry (engineer)|John Perry]], was a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] and invented the navigational gyroscope.<ref name="O'Connell" />


After graduating from the High School in Galway, she won a scholarship to study in [[Royal University of Ireland|Royal University, Galway]] in 1902. Having excelled in mathematics, she changed from studying for a degree in arts to an engineering degree. She graduated with first class honours in 1906.<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /><ref>{{cite web|last1=NUI Galway|title=Our history|url=http://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/who-we-are/our-history.html|website=NUI Galway|publisher=NUI Galway|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref> The family appear to have been academically gifted. Her sisters Molly and Nettie also went on to third level education; a third sister Agnes earned BA (1903) and MA (1905) in mathematics from Queen's College Galway (later UCG then NUIG), taught there in 1903–1904, was a Royal University of Ireland examiner in mathematics in 1906, and later became assistant headmistress at a secondary school in London.<ref name="Galway Society">{{cite journal|last1=O'Sullivan|first1=M. D.|last2=O'Halloran|first2=Joe|title=The Centenary of Galway College|journal=Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society|year=1999|volume=51|pages=24–42}}</ref>
After graduating from the High School in Galway, she won a scholarship to study at [[Queen's College Galway]] in 1902. Having excelled in mathematics, she changed from studying for a degree in arts to an engineering degree. She graduated with first class honours in civil engineering in 1906.<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /><ref>{{cite web|last1=NUI Galway|title=Our history|url=http://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/who-we-are/our-history.html|website=NUI Galway|publisher=NUI Galway|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref> Alice was one of the first women in Europe to graduate with a degree in engineering - following [[Rita de Morais Sarmento]] (Civil Engineering and Public Works from the Academia Politécnica de Oporto (the Polytechnic Academy in Porto) in 1894) and [[Agnes Klingberg]], [[Betzy Meyer]], and [[Julie Arenholt]], who graduated from 1897 to 1901, at the Polyteknisk Læreanstalt, today known as the [[Technical University of Denmark|Danmarks Tekniske Universitet]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ida.dk/om-ida/organisation/infosider/agnes-og-betzy-to-pionerer|title=Agnes og Betzy - to pionerer|website=ida.dk|language=da|access-date=2019-04-02|archive-date=2019-04-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402183832/https://ida.dk/om-ida/organisation/infosider/agnes-og-betzy-to-pionerer|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Perry family was academically gifted. Her sister Nettie studied modern languages and went on to become a lecturer in Spanish at London University. Sister Agnes Mary (known as Molly) earned BA (1903) and MA (1905) in mathematics from Queen's College Galway (later UCG then NUIG), taught there in 1903–1904, was a Royal University of Ireland examiner in mathematics in 1906, and later became assistant headmistress at a secondary school in London. She was described as "the most distinguished mathematician of her time in the college".<ref name="Galway Society">{{cite journal|last1=O'Sullivan|first1=M. D.|last2=O'Halloran|first2=Joe|title=The Centenary of Galway College|journal=Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society|year=1999|volume=51|pages=24–42}}</ref> Her sister Martha married the map scholar, [[Edward William O'Flaherty Lynam]], and their son [[Joss Lynam]] also became an engineer. All of the Perry sisters were involved in the suffrage campaign in Galway.<ref name="Coleman" />


==Career==
==Career==
Following her graduation she was offered a senior postgraduate scholarship but owing to her father's death the following month, she did not take up this position.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> In December 1906 she succeeded her father temporarily as county surveyor for Galway County Council.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> She remained in this position for five<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> or six<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /> months until a permanent appointment was made. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the permanent position and for a similar opportunity to be a surveyor in Galway East.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> She remains the only woman to have been a County Surveyor (County Engineer) in Ireland.<ref name="Engineers Ireland" />
Following her 1906 graduation Alice was offered a senior postgraduate scholarship but owing to her father's death the following month, she did not take up this position.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> In December 1906 she succeeded her father temporarily as [[county surveyor]] for Galway County Council.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> She remained in this position for five<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> or six<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /> months until a permanent appointment was made. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the permanent position and for a similar opportunity to be a surveyor in Galway East.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> She remains the only woman to have been a [[county surveyor]] (county engineer) in Ireland.<ref name="Engineers Ireland" />


In 1908 she moved to London with her sisters, where she worked as a Lady Factory Inspector for the [[Home Office]].<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /> From there she moved to [[Glasgow]], at which point she converted from [[Presbyterianism]] to [[Christian Science]] in 1915.<ref name="O'Connell">{{cite book|last1=O'Connell|first1=Claire|editor1-last=Mulvihill|editor1-first=Mary|title=Lab Coats and Lace|date=2009|publisher=WITS|location=Dublin|isbn=978-0-9531953-1-2|pages=43–45|ref=O'Connell|chapter=First in Their Field}}<!--|accessdate=8 February 2015--></ref> She met and married John (Bob) Shaw on 30 September 1916.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> Shaw was a soldier who died in 1917 on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /><ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" />
In 1908 she moved to London with her sisters, where she worked as a factory inspector for the [[Home Office]].<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /> From there she moved to [[Glasgow]], at which point she converted from [[Presbyterianism]] to [[Christian Science]] in 1915.<ref name="O'Connell">{{cite book|last1=O'Connell|first1=Claire|editor1-last=Mulvihill|editor1-first=Mary|title=Lab Coats and Lace|date=2009|publisher=WITS|location=Dublin|isbn=978-0-9531953-1-2|pages=43–45|ref=O'Connell|chapter=First in Their Field}}<!--|accessdate=8 February 2015--></ref> She met and married John (Bob) Shaw on 30 September 1916.<ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" /> Shaw was a soldier who died in 1917 on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].<ref name="Engineers Ireland" /><ref name="Irish Architectural Archive" />


==Later life and death==
==Later life and death==
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[[File:Alice Perry building NUI galway.jpg|thumb|Alice Perry building NUI galway]]
[[File:Alice Perry building NUI galway.jpg|thumb|Alice Perry building NUI galway]]


An All-Ireland medal has been named in her honour, The Alice Perry Medal, with the first prizes awarded in 2014.<ref name="NUI Galway">{{cite web|last1=NUI Galway|title=Winners announced for the First All-Ireland Apps Competition|url=http://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2014/may2014/winners-announced-for-the-first-all-ireland-apps-competition-.html|website=NUI Galway|publisher=NUI Galway|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref>
Her nephew, Joss Lynam, donated a collection of her poetry to [[NUI Galway]] in 1996.<ref name="Coleman" /> An All-Ireland medal has been named in her honour, The Alice Perry Medal, with the first prizes awarded in 2014.<ref name="NUI Galway">{{cite web|last1=NUI Galway|title=Winners announced for the First All-Ireland Apps Competition|url=http://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2014/may2014/winners-announced-for-the-first-all-ireland-apps-competition-.html|website=NUI Galway|publisher=NUI Galway|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref>


On Monday 6 March 2017, [[NUI Galway]] held an official ceremony to mark the naming of the Alice Perry Engineering Building.<ref>{{cite web|title=Series of Events to celebrate Naming of Alice Perry Engineering Building at NUI Galway|url=https://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2017/march2017/series-of-events-to-celebrate-naming-of-alice-perry-engineering-building-at-nui-galway.html|accessdate=8 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/engineers-ireland-laments-industry-s-stark-gender-imbalance-1.3000331|title=Engineers Ireland laments industry's 'stark' gender imbalance|date=6 March 2017|work=The Irish Times|access-date=13 March 2017|dead-url=}}</ref>
On Monday 6 March 2017, NUI Galway held an official ceremony to mark the naming of the Alice Perry Engineering Building.<ref>{{cite web|title=Series of Events to celebrate Naming of Alice Perry Engineering Building at NUI Galway|url=https://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2017/march2017/series-of-events-to-celebrate-naming-of-alice-perry-engineering-building-at-nui-galway.html|accessdate=8 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/engineers-ireland-laments-industry-s-stark-gender-imbalance-1.3000331|title=Engineers Ireland laments industry's 'stark' gender imbalance|date=6 March 2017|work=The Irish Times|access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref>


==Publications==
==Publications==
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* ''The morning meal and other poems'' (1939)
* ''The morning meal and other poems'' (1939)
* ''Mary in the garden and other poems'' (1944)
* ''Mary in the garden and other poems'' (1944)
* ''One thing I know and other poems'' (c1953)
* ''One thing I know and other poems'' (c. 1953)
* ''Women of Canaan and other poems'' (1961)
* ''Women of Canaan and other poems'' (1961)
<ref>{{Cite web |title=Author Search Results |url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Author/Home?author=Shaw,+Alice+Jacqueline. |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=catalogue.nli.ie |language=en}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
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==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.engineergirl.org/4356.aspx Great Women in Engineering History.]
*[http://www.engineergirl.org/4356.aspx Great Women in Engineering History.]
*[http://www.wes.org.uk/content/pioneering-women-engineers Pioneering Women Engineers.]
*[http://www.wes.org.uk/content/pioneering-women-engineers Pioneering Women Engineers.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831223449/https://www.wes.org.uk/content/pioneering-women-engineers |date=31 August 2019 }}


{{authority control}}
{{authority control}}


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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Alice Jacqueline}}
[[Category:Irish engineers]]
[[Category:British women engineers]]
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[[Category:Women in engineering]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish people]]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:British Christian Scientists]]
[[Category:British Christian Scientists]]
[[Category:People from County Galway]]
[[Category:Engineers from County Galway]]
[[Category:Irish poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish poets]]
[[Category:Converts to Christian Science from Presbyterianism]]
[[Category:Converts to Christian Science from Presbyterianism]]
[[Category:Irish women engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish women engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century women engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish engineers]]
[[Category:Writers from County Galway]]
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[[Category:Irish women poets]]

Latest revision as of 02:04, 1 August 2024

Alice Perry
Born
Alice Jacqueline Perry

(1885-10-24)24 October 1885
Wellpark House, Galway, Ireland
Died21 April 1969(1969-04-21) (aged 83)
Los Angeles
NationalityIrish
BildungRoyal University of Ireland, Galway
OccupationEngineer
SpouseJohn Shaw
Parent(s)James Perry and Martha Perry
Engineering career
DisciplineCivil

Alice Jacqueline Perry (24 October 1885 – 21 April 1969) was one of the first women in Europe to graduate with a degree in engineering.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

[edit]

Born in Wellpark, Galway in 1885, Alice was one of five daughters and a son of Martha Park and James Perry.[4] Her father[5] was the county surveyor in Galway West and co-founded the Galway Electric Light Company.[6] Her uncle, John Perry, was a Fellow of the Royal Society and invented the navigational gyroscope.[7]

After graduating from the High School in Galway, she won a scholarship to study at Queen's College Galway in 1902. Having excelled in mathematics, she changed from studying for a degree in arts to an engineering degree. She graduated with first class honours in civil engineering in 1906.[1][8] Alice was one of the first women in Europe to graduate with a degree in engineering - following Rita de Morais Sarmento (Civil Engineering and Public Works from the Academia Politécnica de Oporto (the Polytechnic Academy in Porto) in 1894) and Agnes Klingberg, Betzy Meyer, and Julie Arenholt, who graduated from 1897 to 1901, at the Polyteknisk Læreanstalt, today known as the Danmarks Tekniske Universitet.[9]

The Perry family was academically gifted. Her sister Nettie studied modern languages and went on to become a lecturer in Spanish at London University. Sister Agnes Mary (known as Molly) earned BA (1903) and MA (1905) in mathematics from Queen's College Galway (later UCG then NUIG), taught there in 1903–1904, was a Royal University of Ireland examiner in mathematics in 1906, and later became assistant headmistress at a secondary school in London. She was described as "the most distinguished mathematician of her time in the college".[10] Her sister Martha married the map scholar, Edward William O'Flaherty Lynam, and their son Joss Lynam also became an engineer. All of the Perry sisters were involved in the suffrage campaign in Galway.[3]

Career

[edit]

Following her 1906 graduation Alice was offered a senior postgraduate scholarship but owing to her father's death the following month, she did not take up this position.[4] In December 1906 she succeeded her father temporarily as county surveyor for Galway County Council.[4] She remained in this position for five[4] or six[1] months until a permanent appointment was made. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the permanent position and for a similar opportunity to be a surveyor in Galway East.[4] She remains the only woman to have been a county surveyor (county engineer) in Ireland.[1]

In 1908 she moved to London with her sisters, where she worked as a factory inspector for the Home Office.[1] From there she moved to Glasgow, at which point she converted from Presbyterianism to Christian Science in 1915.[7] She met and married John (Bob) Shaw on 30 September 1916.[4] Shaw was a soldier who died in 1917 on the Western Front.[1][4]

Later life and death

[edit]

Perry retired from her inspector's position in 1921[7] and became interested in poetry, first publishing in 1922.[1] In 1923 she moved to Boston, the headquarters of Christian Science.[7] Until her death in 1969, Perry worked within the Christian Science movement as a poetry editor and practitioner,[4] publishing seven books of poetry.[1]

Legacy

[edit]
Alice Perry building NUI galway

Her nephew, Joss Lynam, donated a collection of her poetry to NUI Galway in 1996.[3] An All-Ireland medal has been named in her honour, The Alice Perry Medal, with the first prizes awarded in 2014.[11]

On Monday 6 March 2017, NUI Galway held an official ceremony to mark the naming of the Alice Perry Engineering Building.[12][13]

Publications

[edit]
  • The children of Nazareth : and other poems (c1930)
  • The morning meal and other poems (1939)
  • Mary in the garden and other poems (1944)
  • One thing I know and other poems (c. 1953)
  • Women of Canaan and other poems (1961)

[14]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Engineers Ireland. "Alice Perry (1885–1969)". Engineers Ireland: Realised Vision. Engineers Ireland. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  2. ^ "the Galway woman who was Europe's first engineering graduate". Engineers Journal. 20 June 2017. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Coleman, Marie (2009). "Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Irish Architectural Archive. "PERRY, ALICE JACQUELINE". Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940. Irish Architectural Archive. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  5. ^ James Perry (1845-1906) Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
  6. ^ Irish Architectural Archive. "PERRY, JAMES". Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940. Irish Architectural Archive. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d O'Connell, Claire (2009). "First in Their Field". In Mulvihill, Mary (ed.). Lab Coats and Lace. Dublin: WITS. pp. 43–45. ISBN 978-0-9531953-1-2.
  8. ^ NUI Galway. "Our history". NUI Galway. NUI Galway. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Agnes og Betzy - to pionerer". ida.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  10. ^ O'Sullivan, M. D.; O'Halloran, Joe (1999). "The Centenary of Galway College". Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. 51: 24–42.
  11. ^ NUI Galway. "Winners announced for the First All-Ireland Apps Competition". NUI Galway. NUI Galway. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Series of Events to celebrate Naming of Alice Perry Engineering Building at NUI Galway". Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Engineers Ireland laments industry's 'stark' gender imbalance". The Irish Times. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  14. ^ "Author Search Results". catalogue.nli.ie. Retrieved 19 April 2022.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Ó hÓgartaigh, Margaret (2002). '"Am I a Lady or an Engineer?" Early Irish Female Engineers', Irish Engineers' Journal, December, pp. 48–49.
[edit]
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